USB Camera suggestion

jasont.t · Post by **jasont.t** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 10:17 am

Hi,
I've just finished installing Zoneminder for the first time (Ubuntu), but have found the camera I'm using (Logitech Qiuck Cam Express) doesn't handle different lighting conditions well. In normal daylight the picture is whited out; if I try and change the settings i.e Contrast and/or Brightness it will work for a brief second before reverting back to its original setting. I've read somewhere this is due to the linux driver and probably there is no fix.

I was wondering if some people could suggest a good USB camera which works well (auto light adjustment) with Zoneminder?

Thanks

lewis · Post by **lewis** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 11:53 am

from my personal experience:

buy a usb webcam with a ccd sensor, not with a cmos one...
cheap cmos cameras, are crap..

marcel · Post by **marcel** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 3:06 pm

I have the same problem with labtec pro usb camera.
I put a grey filter on it when using outside in full daylight..

which ccd camera do you use?

lewis wrote:from my personal experience:

buy a usb webcam with a ccd sensor, not with a cmos one...
cheap cmos cameras, are crap..

Post by **zoneminder** » Thu Aug 10, 2006 4:03 pm

Some usb drivers allow you to specify an auto brightness etc setting in the module options so that you can either turn it on and hope it does it right, or turn it off and use manual settings. It might be worth checking for your driver whether this is present.

lewis · Post by **lewis** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 1:22 am

marcel wrote: which ccd camera do you use?

Philips PCVC740K ToUcam Pro

i'm lucky to have 3-4 of them..

jasont.t · Post by **jasont.t** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 2:07 am

lewis wrote:
marcel wrote: which ccd camera do you use?

Philips PCVC740K ToUcam Pro

i'm lucky to have 3-4 of them..

Thanks for the advise, I'm going to checkout the Philips.

Howerver I'm also thinking that a capture card might be a better option, then I will have a bigger range of cameras to choose from. Any thoughts?

mjskier · Post by **mjskier** » Fri Aug 11, 2006 4:55 pm

jasont.t wrote: Thanks for the advise, I'm going to checkout the Philips.

While looking for what webcam to buy I ran into this page:

http://www.smcc.demon.nl/webcam/

By the sound of it kernel support for philips camera that used the PWC driver might need kernel patching in the future...

For info, I'm a total newb to zoneminder and I wasn't able to get a creative labs P1030 camera to work. But a Logitech quickcam communicate STX works fine once I installed the OV511 driver (which for some reason doesn't come with the SuSE 10.1 distribution)
I don't know how good it would do outside, but in a bright kitchen with a white floor the image initially comes up all washed out then adjusts itself (I suppose zoneminder controls that adjustment, not the camera?)

bruno.